Wednesday, April 28, 2010

An engineer uses a device that detects brain activity patterns to communicate with a computer at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover in 2008. Japan plans to develop "mind-reading" robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled by thought alone and hopes to market them within a decade, the Nikkei daily has reported.Japan plans to develop "mind-reading" robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled by thought alone and hopes to market them within a decade, the Nikkei daily reported Thursday.

Alan E. Singer has written a most interesting review of Moral Machines for Human Systems Management.

Designers of artificial moral agents (AMA’s) or eth- ical (ro-)bots will be informed by this book. However, it will also challenge moral philosophers and anyone involved in teaching ethics. Indeed, an alternative sub- title: “teaching ethicists right from wrong” would be quite appropriate. The book demonstrates quite con- vincingly that “you don’t really know how something works if you can’t build it”, so that “robotocists are doing philosophy, whether or not they think this is so” [5]. Yet this “philosophy” is plugged: an experimental and constructive “computational philosophy” that fits well with the notion of knowledge as coordination-of- action (e.g. [12]) and the associated position that the physical and mental worlds (are becoming) one and the same1 In addition, the task of AMA design and con- struction repeatedly spins-off sharply-framed questions that are both philosophical and technological.

Initial posts from Ryan include Robots and Privacy, Robots and Warfare, and Section 230 Immunity For Personal Robots. There is also a video from the recent Stanford Robot Block Party, which is embedded below.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

While the technology for a sentient city is already available, what's missing is the ability to connect all the different data streams to form a comprehensive picture of a city's happenings. Wilmington, N.C., however, is trying. In February, the city and surrounding New Hanover County launched a pilot that could make it the nation's first true smart city. Using cameras and sensors, the city will analyze and respond to everything from traffic congestion and fuel consumption to water quality and sewage capacity.

Unsurprisingly there are privacy concerns. While most citizens probably don't mind the idea of pole-mounted devices collecting data on rainfall or air pollution, they are likely to be less receptive to the notion of cameras or traffic sensors that follow their movements throughout a city. Those kinds of concerns are not insurmountable, but they must be dealt with, says Cleverley, who notes that Chicago adopted a policy with its vast network of cameras that individuals' faces are, by default, blurred out. Law enforcement officials must go through an approval process, akin to obtaining a warrant, if they want to look for a specific person.

In the end, the collection of sensor data isn't what's important--it's how a city uses that information. "You can deliver better outcomes for society if you think about a city as a system of systems," says Cleverley. "What these technologies do is make it easier to track these systems. What they don't do is guarantee success."

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Huffington Post is reporting that the Air Force this month plans to launch the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. The X-37B is a small reusable vehicle that is launched by conventional rocket. The exact mission details are sketchy, but include testing of guidance, navigation, control, thermal protection and autonomous operation in orbit, re-entry and landing.